All Young People are most welcome to attend Junior Church as part of Family Service at 10.45am each Sunday+++++++++What we do in Junior Church(scroll down for pictures and text)(click on individual photos for full view)

2020

Keeping to tradition, Colin Turley led the first Service of 2020. Enjoying Christmas-time so much, he chose to continue the theme by including carols and the Twelve Days of Christmas.

2019

When Roger Turley led the final Service of 2019, he enlisted the help of Joshua and Alfie to​ 'Give the Congregation a Hand'.

Project 2019 on behalf of BMS Grand ​Total raised £52

Project 2019 - ChristmasA "Give a Coin, Take a Sweet!" collection was held during the Young People's Service, Sunday, 8th December

Total raised £27

Project 2019 - EasterThe Young People made Easter Bunnies to raise money towards their annual project on behalf of BMSTotal raised £25.00

2018

Sunday, 30th DecemberWhen Roger Turley led the final Service of 2018, he invited two children, visitors from Latvia, to help relate how the Poinsetta plant gained its name.

Sunday, 5th AugustTalking about the life of Martin Luther King Jr, balloons and plastic glasses were used to demonstrate equality - very hi tech!

Sunday, 15th JulyA lovely sunny day so, after making trumpets indoors, Junior Church moved outside for the lesson where Joshua led his troops around the car park as they 'fit the battle of Jericho'

Project 2018The Young People made Easter Baskets, complete with either a baby chick or bunny and mini eggs to raise money towards their annual project on behalf of BMSTotal raised £25.60

Sunday, 4th MarchThomas, Joshua and Alfie began work on a Miracles Timeline

Throughout January, lessons and facts from the Bible were learned through game play

Sunday, 21st January2 pence coins were used to count how many references to the Messiah appear in the Old Testamentthe answer - 456!

Sunday, 7th JanuaryPrize Giving(held over from 10th December when snow prevented the Gift Service from taking place)Colin Turley presented books toAlfie, Joshua, Thomas, Kathryn and Katie.Kathryn collected a book on behalf of Grace

2017

Sunday, 3rd December1st Sunday in AdventKathryn lit the 1st Advent CandleRoger Turley asked Alfie and Katie to help make a Christingle

Sunday, 10th September Thomas, Joshua, Alfie, Kathryn and Grace with Kim - week 2 of 'What does the Bible say?' with the prize

Sunday, 3rd September

Thomas, Alfie and Kathryn working on 'What does the Bible say?' with Peter

Sunday, 6th August Roger Turley enlisted the help of Joshua and Alfie when he used a Holiday theme to bring the message that Everyone is Special to God and He Loves Us Allhe also incorporated the presentation of swimming and school attendance certificates to the Boys highlighting that everyone should use the talents God has given to the best of their ability

Sunday, 7th May Creation - God created the world in six days. How difficult would it be for us to create objects?First of all, the easiest subject we could think of - the snake.Using modelling clay, snakes were sculpted, quickly and easily.Then the exercise was made much more difficult - fashion an elephant with eyes closed.Next, human sculptures were tried - first a motorbike followed by an airplane.

Left: Kathryn, Grace, Thomas, Joshua and Alfie all made good snakes. Grace made a great elephant.

Below: Grace, Kathryn and Joshua made a good attempt at forming a motorbike. Thomas joined them to form an airplane.

Sunday, 22nd JanuaryWhen Philip Turley lead the Service, he asked Thomas and Joshua to eat an apple with forks fastened to the end of long sticks. Thomas was determined to eat a slice, but with the size ratio (Joshua is smaller but the sticks were the same length) it was impossible for Joshua to do this. Solution to the problem - they decided to feed each other.

2016

Sunday, 11th DecemberAnnual Gift ServiceJunior Church lead the Annual Gift Service when Special Guest, Carole Richardson, from the Salvation Army, was pleased to collect the many gifts donated by Darkhouse folk for the children spending Christmas at Shepherds Green House, Birmingham.During the service, the Young People held their usual 'Give a coin, take a sweet' collection and folk were invited to take a Christmas decoration (made in Junior Church) in return for a donation. The total raised was £54.32 which will be forwarded to the BMS as part of the Annual Darkhouse donation.

Sunday, 16th OctoberChurch Anniversary

Trusting each other

Rev Dr Pat Took lead the service during which she placed paper 'cow pats' along the aisle then asked Joshua to wear a blindfold. When Joshua said he trusted Katie she, unbeknown to Joshua, also, wore a blindfold then tried to guide Joshua through the 'cow pats' with the congregation calling out instructions - both Joshua and Katie trod in the 'cow pats'.Katie then removed her blindfold and guided Joshua again, this time with more success.Joshua hadn't known that Katie had worn a blindfold for the first 'walk' but not for the second. He trusted Katie each time to guide him along the path.

Sunday, 4th SeptemberPart 1 : Building More TowersTwo towers were built in competition to see which would be the tallest and strongestThe tallest tower, standing alone without support, had been thought out and had a strong foundationThe tower that fell down had been made quickly and did not have a wider base to support the blocksOur lives should have a strong well-thought out foundation so that we may stand tall like the winning towerPart 2 : Learning to Share with a Charitable HeartA space was divided into segments with an equal number of bricks in each oneThe task was to give the bricks away to others, one by one, all working at the same timeThe Winner, with no bricks left at the end of the designated time, was the person who considered how they were 'donating' their bricks and did so with a Charitable Heart

EasterSunday 27th Marchpreparing for the Easter Egg Hunt and enjoying the rewards

Sunday 6th,13th,20th March, preparing for Easter

Sunday, 6th March - Mother's DayAll ladies attending Service received a silk rose from the Young PeopleMrs Rosie Flavell, leading the Service, gave each of the Young People a gold pencil topped with a crown and a pearl to remind them to write thank you to their Mum's and God

Sunday, 24th JanuaryPlaying games can have a serious aspect - learning to trust each other, teamwork, organisation.....

Sunday, 17th JanuaryThe Young People of Junior Church built a structure from duplo bricksdemonstrating that although the bricks (us) are all different they each have a part in the structure (life).Working alone to build the structure would have been tedious and slow,working together as a group, the structure was built much quicker and it was FUN.

2015

Sunday, 13th DecemberJunior Church combined the Annual Gift Servicewith the Annual Prize Giving. Special Guest, Carole Richardson, Salvation Army, Birmingham, accepted the Gifts on behalf of the children spending Christmas at Shepherd’s Green House, Birmingham. Mrs Edna Paskin kindly presented prizes (books) to the nine Young People who had attended Junior Church during 2015.The Young People's annual 'Give a Coin, Take a Sweet' collection realised £31.40which will be sent to the BMS to help children in other countries who do not have the benefits that our Young People have. Thanks are given for the generosity of the congregation.

Sunday, 12th July, Grace, Joshua and Thomas were 'quizzed' by Pastor David Umbers

Sunday, 19th April, following on from VeggieTales 'An Easter Carol'celebrating designing and making Stained Glass Windows

After hearing about Jesus healing a Roman soldier's servant, the Young People made their own Roman soldiers' helmets.

﻿Sunday, 15th March - Mother's DayAll ladies attending Service received a hand-made daffodil from the Young People﻿

2014

﻿ Each year, Junior Church raises funds at Easter and Christmas which are sent to the BMS to help children in other countries who do not have the benefits that our Young People have Project 2014CHAD MATERNITY CENTRE APPEALDonations in return for Surprise Gift Boxes were added to monies raised by the sale of Easter Pots and a'Give a Coin, Take a Sweet' collection. Along with generous donations a total of£241.70 was raised by Junior Church

Sunday, 7th December, 2014Junior Church combined the Annual Gift Servicewith the Annual Prize Giving. Special Guest, Carole Richardson, Salvation Army, Birmingham, accepted the Gifts on behalf of the children spending Christmas at Shepherd’s Green House, Birmingham. Michaela & David Edwards kindly presented prizes (books) to the nine Young People who had attended Junior Church during 2014

Annual Gift Service and Annual Prize Giving 2014The Young People presented a short play written by Scarlet prior to a Musical Interlude when Kathryn played the clarinet

The theme in Junior Church for 2014 has been the Old Testament, beginning with Genesis, giving the Young People the opportunity to hear stories which, although 'old', may be 'new' to them

A favourite story with the Young People has been 'Joshua Takes Charge'The walls of Jericho were built (foam blocks), trumpets were made (sugar paper) and our real Joshua led his army around the walls 7 times in 7 days. With one strong blast on the trumpets (loud enough for the congregation in church to hear), the city walls came crashing down to loud cheers and applause. Joshua's plan had been a success!

Marching round the outer walls of Jericho
7 times in 7 days

Quickening up the pace

The soldiers in Joshua's army blew their trumpets and the walls of Jericho came tumbling down

Project 2014CHAD MATERNITY CENTRE APPEALChildbirth isn’t easy – just ask any Mum!But it should be safe and in countries like Chad, it isn’t.A woman in Chad is over 120 times more likely to die in childbirth than a woman in the UK, making Chad the most dangerous place in the world for a woman to give birth.The Young People of Darkhouse Junior Church have chosen to use their Project 2014 to help improve the facilities at the Guinebor ll Hospital so that every boy and girl born there will have the best possible start in life and their Mums will have the best possible care.

Easter Pots

A donation was made in return for an Easter Pot

Pots were decorated with Easter symbols and planted with small bulbs

The Easter Pots were very popular and a queue formed. The Pots were soon 'sold'

﻿﻿2013﻿

Junior Church had great fun at the Christmas/New Year PartySunday, 29th December, 2013 +++++++++

Sunday, 8th December, 2013Junior Church combined the Annual Gift ServiceAnnual Gift Service and Annual Prize Giving 2013with the Annual Prize Giving Special Guest, Carole Richardson, Salvation Army, Birmingham accepted the Gifts on behalf of the children spending Christmas at Shepherd’s Green House, Birmingham, and kindly presented prizes (books) to Darkhouse Young People who had a minimum of 15 attendances Junior Church during 2013